To the Editor:
About 90 Sheepscot Valley RSU 12 voters turned out Jan. 16 to discuss and adopt a budget for the current school year. The predominant concern, voiced by a dozen or so of the attendees, was about how the costs are unequally shared by the towns, not about the proposed total.
The Board-recommended budget was adopted with no changes, with a total bottom line of $26,109,067. The budget adopted at the Saturday meeting (Jan 16) is about $1.5 million smaller than the first RSU 12 budget proposed in June 2009 and is only $183,000 (0.7 percent) more than last year’s school budget(s).
It should be actively noted that the local costs will be shared in the same proportion that they were in the prior (08-09) school year. Every town in RSU 12 will see its Total Local Contribution (the amount of all local monies spent on education: taxes, carryover from prior year, school surplus and municipal surplus) increase 15 percent for the 2009-2010 school year. The local share has increased by 15 percent, almost exclusively due to loss of state funding. State funding has dropped by $1.76 million (-13.7 percent) compared to last year.
RSU 12 needs an approved budget. It costs about $10,000 to go through the two-step budgeting process each time. This is the fourth time RSU 12 has tried to get a budget approved. Budget approval on Jan. 26 will mean the RSU 12 Board of Directors and the Administration can focus on the 2011 budget process and initiate several cost-saving measures to be implemented next school year after input and research.
Seeming inequalities of cost-sharing can also be looked into in the future, but a change would require many steps including votes and will take significant time. Property taxes for this year are already set.
If voters defeat the budget on Jan. 26 then the Board of Directors and the Administration may have to cut areas that will affect students, staff and programs this year. This has been avoided to date by utilizing federal stimulus (ARRA) funds to support certain programs and positions. There is no ARRA money left to spend this year. Future cuts from this budget will likely be real cuts of programs and staff.
Please vote on Jan. 26 or by absentee ballot before then. The budget is a responsible one. Cost-sharing is fair. Support your local public schools, your child’s school. Vote. It is your democratic privilege.
The RSU needs to know its expense bottom line so it can run the schools in the black. This can only happen by getting a budget approved at the polls. Call me if you have any questions and I will try to get them answered if you cannot find the answer on the RSU 12 website – www.svrsu.org.
Hilary Holm
Whitefield
RSU 12 Director and member of Finance Committee and Public Communication Committee
